Music Mondays - Songs for the New Year

It's been a few weeks, but Music Monday is back!

I was flipping through our church's hymnal thinking of New Year's songs. After all, we just got through a Christmas season that has plenty of songs associated with it. 'What about New Years?' I thought.

There were a grand total of 7 listed. And I only had heard of 3 of them.

That's too bad, because the New Year holiday is a perfect time to celebrate what God's done for us. While not expressly a biblical holiday like Christmas or Easter, the themes of the New Year of new beginnings, starting over, resolutions, and looking towards the future perfectly fit with biblical principles.

So why not scour my iPod and come up with my own list of New Year's-related songs?

And that's what I did.

I will present them in ascending order starting with numbers 6-10 today and present #1-5 next week. Along with corresponding videos, I will also offer a short commentary on why it makes my list.

With no further ado, here we go:

10.  "Always" by Kristian Stanfill

Why is it on the list?
This song evokes many of the Psalms where David declares his absolute trust and dependance in God to vindicate and save him. Those aren't exclusively 'New Year's' ideas, but they are important perspectives to have as we look to what may lie ahead. No matter the good or bad 2014 brings, we can be confident in our great God.

9. "Valley of Tomorrow" by Needtobreathe

Why is it on the list?
This band just knows how to write great songs. And this one is a song of re-commitment to God no matter what:

Chorus:
Oh, this is the way I wanna go down
(This is the last time) I'm starting over with you
This is the way I wanna go out
(This is the last time)

Read more: Needtobreathe - Valley Of Tomorrow Lyrics | MetroLyrics

I also personally love it because it talks about seeing "the daylight breaks through the buildings of Chicago" and I've seen that very thing during my days recruiting for Grace Seminary. It's just a great, soulful song of re-dedication and listening to the Spirit's guiding whisper - totally relevant to us as we make our New Year's resolutions.

8. "In the Light" - dc Talk (nod to Charlie Peacock)

Why is it on the list?
It's an oldie, but a goodie. And to say that means I must be really old. Much like the previous song, this classic from the Jesus Freak album is a declaration of commitment to God and desire to pursue Him. If you're still reading at this point, you are probably sensing a theme. But along with the fitting lyrics, the music is fun, upbeat, and invites us to sing a long.

Songs #7 and #6 after the jump...

Sermon Snippets

My college basketball coach subscribed to the K.I.S.S. method of strategy regarding many aspects of basketball theory. K.I.S.S. stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid". In these days of extreme political correctness, I'm not sure if he still uses the 'Stupid' part, but the approach was a wise one. Instead of over-thinking the process, keeping it simple allowed the players and coaches to focus on the basics and react and respond accordingly.
 
Many churches in our country need to embrace the same kind of approach to ministry. Churches are often very complex organizations with many programs and activities. Those programs are often designed with good intentions, but they often become a burden to the congregation. Churches often mistake busy-ness for progress and assume people with experience spiritual growth by osmosis. 

This past year I read "Simple Church" by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger and had our leadership read it as well. It calls churches to take stock of their ministries and get back to the basics of who we are, what we do, and why we do it.

Milford First Brethren is not a large church by any measure. But even in small churches, there is the tendency to complicate what should be kept simple. 

So this Sunday, my sermon will be more of an explanation of our vision as we outline our core purpose:

Each of those biblical principles (Love God, Love Others, Make Disciples) will be pursued through three individual levels of commitment - from most basic to most involved. We are simply going to be asking, how involved am I and what is the next step I should take?

Looking forward to Sunday!

Sermon Snippets

Instead of offering you my preview of Sunday's sermon. I'm calling an audible dedicated to all those pastors out there faithfully toiling away for the gospel of Christ.

I attended the funeral of a holy man today. Pastor Ivan French died late last week. He was my first pastor. As a young kid growing up in a Christian home, going to church was simply what we did. But it never became drab or routine because of the loving people at Pleasant View Bible Church. However the biggest reason I always looked forward to going to church was Pastor French. 

I couldn't always sit still for the sermons. I didn't always retain what he preached. But this is what has stayed with me: Jesus loves me and the sacrifice He made for me on the Cross compels me to love him passionately in return. 

Pastor French preached the entirety of Scripture, but he placed special emphasis on the atoning work of Christ on the Cross. He consistently and lovingly turned our focus onto the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior. He used his wonderful sense of humor and "illustrious anecdotes" to help us relate to biblical truth. And he always invited us to worship the One who laid His life down for us. He taught me what it was to fall in love with Jesus.

The Gospel Coalition has risen to prominence in recent years. It's a group comprised of many well-known evangelical pastors and scholars who have partnered together because of their shared Reformed theology and their common desire to proclaim the Gospel above all else.

While I don't think Pastor French was a super-Calvinist or 100% Reformed in his approach to theology, he was way ahead of his time with his Gospel-centered preaching. 

Though he was a great man of the Word, his ministry impacted me because he cared about me. I remember as a five or six year old kid being greeted personally by him on many occasions after church. As I grew older and he transitioned into retirement, he always had a kind word to say or a funny quip to share whenever we interacted.

I recently heard a mega-church pastor I really respect say that one of the best things a pastor can do is to treat little kids well. He encouraged greeting them, kneeling down to their level and looking them in the eye and talking to them. When he shared that, I thought of Pastor French and what a cool thing that was for me to be on the receiving end of a pastor's love. It's something I try to do as much as I can now that the shoe is on the other foot.

Praise God for the privilege of knowing and learning from Pastor Ivan French!

Sermon Snippets

I'm preaching on 'Giving' this Sunday. I'm feeling the tension. I'm not a TV preacher who can easily ignore the awkwardness and just come out and ask for my audience's money. I'm also not a Christian who has a sterling record with my own personal giving. So it's not a subject I'm entirely comfortable with.

I have seen it done though with the right approach at my old church and their 'Faith Promise' program. I'm so thankful to have been well-taught on the biblical principles of giving. Through my experience, I learned the most important question is not, "what can I/we afford to give"' but instead, "what can I trust God to provide for?"

That was the question that drove our yearly operating budget as well as what the leadership presented to the congregation every year regarding our missions giving.

It's still a area I struggle with in finding the right balance. I still have a ways to go to become a financially prudent Christian. We as a couple have way to many bills. But thankfully the biblical principles and attitudes are not things God beats us over the head with. They are freeing truths that draw us closer to our Savior.

Paul provides an encouraging summary of these truths in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8:

"Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace about to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

Music Monday - Songs I'm Embarrassed to Like

I'm not embarrassed to like this song, but it is not a song one would expect a pastor to like. And it's not a song neither my wife nor my friends would know I'd like. It only reached #25 on the Billboard charts and didn't have a long run as a hit. But I love this song. It's the perfect song to get psyched up to play a big game (which I was doing - playing college ball back when it came out in 2000). If I had controlled the warm-up music for pre-game, this definitely would have made the cut.

I'm not one to dance or even raise my hands much in church during worship, but this song makes me want to react like that, like the awkward Midwestern white-boy that I am. It's not my culture or normally my style of music, but I love to "Rock the Party":

Sermon Snippets

Bragging is something good Christians just don't do. We are supposed to be humble, like Christ. We are supposed to let our actions speak rather than run our mouths. Plus, no one really likes someone who is boastful and arrogant and can't stop telling you how great they/their job/their family/or their favorite team is.

But how does that saying go? "There's an exception to every rule." And there is an exception to this one. Paul tells us in Galatians 6:14 that we can brag "in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ". We are given leeway to brag about what God has done in our life, through the Cross.

Obviously this is a different kind of bragging. This is not self-centered or self-magnifying. This is Jesus-centered and God-glorifying. The transforming power of the Cross makes us "a new creation" (6:15) and imparts to us peace, mercy, and grace (6:16-18).

So go ahead, brag all you want. As long as it's Cross-centered, it's perfectly acceptable.